This invention is concerned with improvements in or relating to fastening.
There are many occasions when it is desired to secure an article to a support without making a hole in the support for a bolt or a rivet; there are also occasions when access can be gained to one side only of the support. A well-known method of fastening articles to metal plates, for example, accessible from one side only where it is desired that a hole shall not be made in the plate for this purpose is to weld a screw-threaded stud to the plate, place the article, with a hole in it to receive the stud, over the stud, followed by a washer and then thread a nut on the stud and tighten it to clamp the article to the plate. This well-known method has the disadvantage of being usually rather slow, especially where access is restricted, because the operator has to manipulate the nut into threaded engagement with the screw and then rotate it, by means of a suitable tool, to tighten it. The stud, washer and nut may also be undesirably costly.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide an improved, inexpensive and readily and rapidly effected method of securing an article to a support, without making a hole in the support and where the operator has access to one side only of the support, by means of a fastener which can be welded or bonded to the support and, while accommodated in an aperture in the article through which it projects, caused to effect clamping of the article to the support.